I got a EVGA GTX260/216 SC edition for sale in Agora if any of you are looking for one. I'm only posting about it in here because I have crunched with it for ARS to the tune of 5,000,000 in GPUGRID. Solid card!

The HD 5770 should be good for around 100,000 credits/day in Collatz. Also works very well in DNETC and RC5-72. Does not work in MilkyWay or GPUGRID. GPUGRID is working on an app for ATI HD 5000 series cards though.

The HD 5850 cards just went down in price today. I see the Asus EAH5850 going for $289, $269 with the rebate, which is $30-50 less than yesterday. One other thing I've noticed, and I'm not sure if it has already been mentioned, but the open box deals on Newegg seem to get posted on Fridays - that has led me to some killer deals (30+ percent off) and a hell of a farm for RC5-72.

Not a bad way to get into GPUGRID crunching on the cheap. Does 17-20k/day in GPUGRID or around 20k/day in Collatz as a backup project. For running Collatz only, ATI is a better choice though. This is one of the better GT 240 cards, runs cool, doesn't use much power. The GT 240 draws all of it's power through the PCIe buss, so no 6 pin PCIe connector is needed. $39.95 AR with free shipping.

Newegg has the MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5/OC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512 for 149.99 after rebate with free shipping. I bought one of these a couple weeks ago and it is fast. It is also cool and quiet. Running Collatz gives me peak temperatures of ~55C with run times that are faster than my GTX 285 (~11.5 minutes for GTX460), I'm averaging ~94K/day with the GTX460. Just thought I'd pass it along.

I looked at the 460 reviews some time ago and they left me baffled. Nvidia disabled double precision floating point from 2 of the 3 texture units. That suggests that it probably would not do well on a project that requires double precision floating point. And on an integer project, the 5770 would appear faster, cheaper and lower power. I felt that it would make a decent mid range GPU for games that can take advantage of the double precision floating point as there are probably enough DP cores for most game data flows. But, for GPU crunching? The crippled DP would make the 460 a poor choice and ATI seems to have more competitive options for integer. Am I missing something?

And, as for the 9600gso vs gt240 .. while the 9600gso is slightly faster at any project that does not utilize compute capability 1.1 features, the lower power and smaller size of the gt240 does make it a clear winner in almost all situations.

So after rebates, combo discount, free shipping and $110 worth of newegg cards 2 x HD5850 cards and an X6 Phenom costs a net $390. If you don't want the Phenom, choose a different combo but the $100 newegg card is ONLY for today. Enjoy

Edit: This deal didn't last long at all, newegg pulled the $100 gift card halfway through the day. The HIS HD 5850 card is still a good deal at $170 AR shipped.

^ Just want to add, I have the exact same 460. It's very quiet, even at full-crunch, runs cool, and nets me ~9-11k worth of points/day on folding@home. It's a great card, especially for the price.

Posting to say that my experience has been the same. There's also a certain amount of credibility in being able to overclock the core from 675Mhz to 900Mhz+ without any appreciable difference in noise or temperature.

You get 15 minutes to do so. We've had a rash of serious abuse with the editing function so unfortunately we locked it down about... an hour ago.

Hello continuum, is this a permanent arrangement? Does it have to be locked down for the DC forum? The reason I'm asking. In our project home threads the opening poster tries to keep all the links and comments current for that specific project. If we no longer have this ability updates and new links will get buried in threads and not be as readily available to the seasoned cruncher or the newbie. As an example I try to keep the opening post in the World Community Grid Thread up to date. As I'm sure you know very little abuse happens here in the DC forum. Thank you for your time and I apologize for going off topic in this thread.

I was too, couldn't believe they did that. Then I went to the project threads I started and discovered that the first post could no longer be changed. Add that to no longer being able to have private threads for planning and the DC team has really ended up with the short end of the stick with this forum downgrade.

gt240 What ???, even if you pay 40$ for it, I don't see were that's going.

Have you thought about resale value. ? (will be competing with onboard GPU soon)Have you thought about the PC energy consumption. ?Have you thought about the price of the PC including and a 4 pci-e slot motherboard ?

If ppd were adjusted correctly a gtx460 would be doing 15k ppd @150$ and that 4k ppd gt240 = 39$

I would not even bother building a 4 card system that would output 16k ppd.

gt240 What ???, even if you pay 40$ for it, I don't see were that's going.

You're answering a 3+ month old post. Yep times have changed and the GT240 no longer makes much sense as a cruncher. It was the best bang for the buck at GPUGRID for a while, but those days are gone...

So I'm rebuilding my old Core 2 Duo machine as an HTPC, which means I'll be needing a new, low-power graphics card to power it (the 4800 would overheat in the limited space available). Since it'll be running a lot as a media server as well, it may as well run two F@H clients at the same time.

So... suggestions for a cheap, low-power graphics card that would be capable of running the GPU2 F@H client?

You're answering a 3+ month old post. Yep times have changed and the GT240 no longer makes much sense as a cruncher. It was the best bang for the buck at GPUGRID for a while, but those days are gone...

Exactly the info I was looking for, Ed. I'm not looking for a cruncher, just for budget video. With the 430's now the same price as the 240's, it makes no sense to buy a 240.

Yep times have changed and the GT240 no longer makes much sense as a cruncher. It was the best bang for the buck at GPUGRID for a while, but those days are gone...

Exactly the info I was looking for, Ed. I'm not looking for a cruncher, just for budget video. With the 430's now the same price as the 240's, it makes no sense to buy a 240.Anyone done any side-by side of the two yet?

Chris, good to hear from you! Don't know much about the 430 but found a review:

I do have 3 GT 240 cards that I'd sell if you're interested, only used on Sundays (and a few other days) . They've always been run at under 60C anyway. I'm mostly going to AMD/ATI and not doing GPUGRID at the moment. Just grabbed a couple HD 5850 cards and could use pairing down some in general on the machine front. Also have a 8800 GT and suppose the GTX 260 could go too. Hope you'll do a little crunching in your spare time (I know, I know and do agree with you about THAT).

You're answering a 3+ month old post. Yep times have changed and the GT240 no longer makes much sense as a cruncher. It was the best bang for the buck at GPUGRID for a while, but those days are gone...

Exactly the info I was looking for, Ed. I'm not looking for a cruncher, just for budget video. With the 430's now the same price as the 240's, it makes no sense to buy a 240.

Anyone done any side-by side of the two yet?

Glad to see you posting again! You've been missed around here. If you're looking for a decent vid card, I'm sure that between the two of us, we can find one that fits your needs. I happen to have two 4850s, a GTX 260 and GTX 285 that I've been meaning to put up on Agora, but haven't made the time. If you are interested, I'm sure we can work something out.

Please tell me you're here to whip us into a fine fighting force again...Beyond does his best with us but we're an unruly bunch

That is a negative. I am literally looking for some performance input on the 430 before picking up one. I knew this was THE place to come for said advice.

Financially, this year has been a nightmare. -My electrical bill is down by 1/3, yet when I called to get my budget plan adjusted they insisted that if it was recomputed that it would go up. That is impossible and I called them on it. The mgr bumped it down from $192 to $162, and as it stands I am paying about $60/mo more than I am using. This cold snap will change that some, though. Still, we're in for a big reconning in May when I hit the end of the budget year.-We have literally had a couple thousand dollars in vehicle maintenance and repairs. It has killed us.-A couple of times we've had to decide whether to pay bills or send our full church tithe. Regretfully, we've had to shave church tithe. I told someone at church about this when he asked how we were doing, and magically we are now on the church's angel tree. That is making a big difference this Christmas!-I'm looking to have to replace the dish washer and possibly the clothes dryer soon. Already replaced the microwave. (Dinky ones won't do when you have 5 kids!)

Emotionally, this year has been a nightmare's nightmare.-Huge blow up with the wife in Sept. She told me she didn't know if she loved me any more.-She refuses counciling or any kind. Wants to do it on our own. It's been 3 months and very little progress. I've put my foot down and we'll be seeing a couple starting after New Years.-We still have many fights. Many, many fights. About the stupidest things. I'm not tolerant enough and she won't communicate. That is what it boils down to.

So as much as I would love to come back and hang out, I cannot. Life just will not allow it. My taking a break was good. With this much to deal with, I could not help you guys at all.

As it stands, I'm looking at swapping the file server from a quad (from Whizbang I believe) to an Atom to save juice. I just cannot find a decent board with 4 SATA, 1 PCI, and PS2 connectors. I'm going to upgrade a couple systems when I get my tax check. Probably faster i3's. At that time Ed, I'll probably take you up on you offer of the 240's. Oh and Whiz, I think I want to buy that Xbox360 from you for the kids. Is that the older style, or the new slim style?

Thanks again guys. I might start pushing a trickle from the new i5 desktops we have at work. That is, if I can get around our new software whitelisting.

I'm looking to replace my GT240 that's currently in my Corei5 machine crunching on Primegrid. I am limited in that the power supply that Dell included with the machine has no PCIE power connectors, or even any 4 pin molex connectors. So I am limited to video cards that get their power strictly from the slot, which I think limits me to a GT430. Does anyone know the performance a GT430 vs a GT240, specifically on Primegrid?

Don't know about PrimeGrid specifically but generally the 430 is a step down from the 240, all things being equal (read GDDR5). Does your machine accept a standard PS? What I do when people bring me proprietary Dells with dead MBs and insist they be resurrected: throw away the Dell case, buy an inexpensive case, MB and PS, switch the components . It's way cheaper than what Dell charges for a MB, and better. Same for other proprietary setups. Sorry, getting off track...

Don't know about PrimeGrid specifically but generally the 430 is a step down from the 240, all things being equal (read GDDR5). Does your machine accept a standard PS? What I do when people bring me proprietary Dells with dead MBs and insist they be resurrected: throw away the Dell case, buy an inexpensive case, MB and PS, switch the components . It's way cheaper than what Dell charges for a MB, and better. Same for other proprietary setups. Sorry, getting off track...

I would have to check the pinout on the PSU to see if it's Dell proprietary or not. Maybe I'll just stick with the 240 for now. It gets me 2311 credits in just under an hour on Primegrid.